BULETIN ŞTIINŢIFIC, Seria C, Fascicola: Mecanică, Tribologie, Tehnologia Construcţiilor de Maşini

SCIENTIFIC BULLETIN, Serie C, Fascicle: Mechanics, Tribology, Machine Manufacturing Technology, ISSN 1224-3264, Vol. 2020 No.XXXV

Temperature Control of Liquid Working Medium Operated Heating Plates

Erdélyi Viktor 1, Földi László 1, Buzás János 1, Tóth János 1

Abstract: It is extremely important to be able to produce the right quantity and quality of meat under large-scale
conditions. In addition, due to rising energy prices and environmentally conscious thinking, there is an increasing focus
on operating with the highest possible energy efficiency and using renewable energy sources. In pig farming, contact
heating plates used in piglet nursery are typically using either liquid as working medium or they directly using electric
heating solutions. The thermal utilization of solar energy provides an opportunity to reduce the energy needs of liquid
working systems from fossil fuels. The main problem with this solution is that the temperature of the heating plates
inside the barn can vary depending on the load and other environmental parameters, due to the central control, which
impairs the comfort of the animals. This paper examines the possibilities of controlling contact heating pads with liquid
as working medium. A block-oriented modelling framework is used for the mathematical models that were validated on
a small-scale model.

Keywords: Agriculture, Control, Heating, Modelling

1. INTRODUCTION etc.). For this reason, farmers often opt for more
expensive electrical solutions.
It is extremely important to be able to produce the
right amount and quality of meat. For this reason, animal 1.1. Literary background and foundation of the
husbandry must take place on a large-scale level. research
Production must be carried out in a sustainable way,
considering animal welfare guidelines. According to literature sources, it is becoming
The current Hungarian regulations 39/2018. (XII. more and more common in both industry and agriculture
13.) dictate the condition for obtaining the animal today they use solar energy for heating purposes (Xie et
welfare subsidy is the creation of the conditions al., 2019). In my experience, solar thermal underfloor
necessary to avoid fighting and burnout, as well as the heating systems that used in pig farms are often unable
establishment of a suitable microclimate in accordance to maintain the expected temperatures due to the large
with clauses c) and e) of the first paragraph of § 5. time constant (Kull et al., 2019) and various parameters
Even more important is the cooling of the body (Lu et al., 2020). That is why it is typical for farmers to
surface, which is extremely dangerous to the health of operate more expensive electric underfloor heating they
the animal, which can be one of the consequences of choose instead of systems that directly use the energy of
cold floor surfaces or the combined effect of sweating the Sun. Both the domestic and international literature
due to overheating of the contact plates and drafts, which deals in detail with the control technology sub-area that
can cause catarrhal stomach and lung disease. is optimal for renewable resources and solar systems.
Since the phenomenon of burnout (ear and tail The first use of solar energy for hot water
chewing) can be associated with high stress levels production dates to the early 1900s, when prehistoric
(Johnson et al., 2018), one of the causes of which is the collectors similar to today’s versions appeared in
sensitivity of the pig to temperature and other factors, England and America. Their spread was accelerated in
and the appropriate microclimate condition includes the particular by the 1973 oil crisis. Today's biggest users of
appropriate temperature. So, the issue is important from the solar collector technology is China and the European
both an animal welfare and an economic point of view. Union (Varga, 2017). The technical devices that collect
In pig housing, a type of stable called a pig farm the radiant energy of the Sun and utilize it thermally is
is used to increase the comfort of the piglets by means of called a solar thermal collector (Véghely, 2012). Today,
various heating techniques (Barótfi et al., 1979). One of it is an extremely current and evolving research sector. A
these is the use of contact heating plates, which can be not so popular research area, however, is the thermal
liquid-working or direct electric heating. Boilers utilization of solar energy in temperature-sensitive areas
powered by gas or biogas (Tóth L., 2021) are often used such as pig husbandry, where the comfort of piglets is
to supply the above-mentioned solution with a liquid the primary consideration (Johnson et al., 2018), which
working medium, in some cases using solar thermal adversely affects animal development.
energy. There are several solutions for the mathematical
The main problem with the use of these systems description of dynamic systems, of which the differential
is typically the uneven temperature distribution between equation methods (Nagle et al., 2012), which are to be
the heating plates placed at several points within the pig used in the time domain, the transfer functions
farm. This is because these systems can be considered as (Paraskevopoulos, 2002), which provide a solution in the
high time constant systems that are difficult to control operator domain, and the state space models (Shumway
under changing conditions (sheet contamination, airflow,

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BULETIN ŞTIINŢIFIC, Seria C, Fascicola: Mecanică, Tribologie, Tehnologia Construcţiilor de Maşini
SCIENTIFIC BULLETIN, Serie C, Fascicle: Mechanics, Tribology, Machine Manufacturing Technology, ISSN 1224-3264, Vol. 2020 No.XXXV

et al., 2011). All these description methods can be MATLAB is a product of The MathWorks, Inc.
applied in a block-oriented modeling approach. MATLAB is a programming language and the
development framework that supports that language.
This software package is widely used for numerical
calculations (Ashino et al., 2000), as a tool for linear
2. AIM OF THE RESEARCH algebra, mathematical programming, and other subjects
(Stoyan, 2008), also the transfer functions and state-
The research aims to investigate control space models used in process control applications
algorithms that can perform robust temperature control (Simulink User’s Guide, 2015). MATLAB is an
of systems with large time constant. My goal is to excellent prototyping language, i.e. an algorithm for
connect a heating auxiliary thermal solar system formed designing a calculation, suitable for testing, as it has both
from a network of liquid contact heating plates used in linguistic and visualization tools, however, this
piglet housing to a small sample model with the convenience comes at the expense of speed. MATLAB
possibility of: is an interpreted language, so a program written in it is
 different control algorithms (On-Off, PID, not converted into computer instructions, such as in the
model-based, adaptive model-based, artificial C language, but is executed line by line. The so-called
neural network), Toolboxes are available for the MATLAB software
 various actuators (pump, throttle). package, which extend it the scope of use. Toolboxes are
The validation of the mathematical models function libraries created for solving a special task, such
happened in the experimental laboratory of the Institute as image processing, statistics, and curve fitting. The
of Technology, Department of Mechatronics. simulations were carried out in MATLAB R2019b.
The Simulink software package is a toolbox of
3. MATERIAL AND METHOD the MATLAB system. Simulink is a block-oriented
modelling framework used for simulating dynamic
In this chapter, the experimental methods and systems. The framework includes the basic units, one of
tools used to achieve my research goals will be which is the solar energy recovery mathematical models
presented, including the small-scale system created for describing the system can be constructed, the vast
the experiments and the parts that make up the system. majority of which are ordinary differential equations.
The Simulink system includes a numerical solver for the
3.1. Block-oriented modeling Runge-Kutta and the Dormand-Prince algorithms
(Ashino et al., 2000) which most frequently appear in an
The mathematical models of the studied system engineering application, i.e., a perfect choice for the
were created in a block-oriented way. MATLAB + models in this research.
Simulink software package was used as a framework due
to the currently active university license (Tóth J., 2021). 3.2. Small-scale model

The small-scale model is a two-circuit solar

thermal utilization suitable for Hardware-in-the-Loop
(HIL) simulations for the validation of mathematical
models. To model the solar collector, an electric heater
was used to precisely control the amount of energy
representing the heat energy input of a solar collector.
Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the small-scale
model, while Figure 2 shows the actual experimental
system.
The model is designed to make room for further
improvements that may be required based on measured
data (Tóth J., 2021). The small-scale model uses seven
DS18B20 digital temperature sensors which are able to
set up as 10 or 12 bit output resolution, one for heat
storage unit, one in the collector unit, one each for both
the collector inlet and outlet points, one on the surface of
the heating bench, a sensor for measuring the ambient
temperature, and one for the return branch of the user-
side. The pressure transmitters used to test the pressure
conditions are integrated in the user-side placed on the
inlet and outlet sides of the throttle valve. The type of
pressure sensors is My1220 which have a measuring
range
Fig. 1. Block diagram of the of 0-10
designed bar and system
small-scale an output voltage of 0.5-4.5 V.
The sensor has an analog output, so the resolution

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BULETIN ŞTIINŢIFIC, Seria C, Fascicola: Mecanică, Tribologie, Tehnologia Construcţiilor de Maşini
SCIENTIFIC BULLETIN, Serie C, Fascicle: Mechanics, Tribology, Machine Manufacturing Technology, ISSN 1224-3264, Vol. 2020 No.XXXV

depends on the used ADCs resolution, which in this case

10 bits.
The pump responsible for circulating the heat
transfer medium in the collector loop, operates on the
principle of a volume displacement and it is a peristaltic
pump. Since the pump is operated with an on-off
controller, the flowrate is either 0 or 0,354 liter/min.
The circulating pump of the user circuit is a
centrifugal pump. The pumps flowrate depending its
load and driving motors regulation is between 0 and 0,23
liter/min. The reason to use different working principle
pumps is that the output flowrate of a positive
displacement pump is easily calculable and it is
sufficient to model a steady flowrate in the collector
circuit. This solution has been validated in preliminary
research. In the main focus of this research however
stands the user circuit, in which centrifugal pumps are
used in practice. Both pumps are driven by brushed,
permanent magnet DC motors. A polypropylene plastic
container (1 liter in volume) insulated with a roof
insulation material (1.35 W/m2K) was used as a heat
storage. The storage tank is equipped with a copper tube
coil as a water-to-water heat exchanger between the
storage- and heat transfer medium used in the collector
circuit.
During the measurements, the temperature rise of
the heating cycle was examined. An average of 51.15 W
was used to heat the collector circuit, and the pump
speed of the collector circuit was 316 rpm, expressed as
a mass flow of 0.0059 kg s-1.
The measurements also revealed that the system
is operating at a significant loss. To explore the location
of the losses, thermal camera images were taken as
shown in Figure 3, showing a 50-50% image in the
visible light as well in the infrared range.

Fig. 2. The built experimental Small scale system with embedded system and hydraulic circuits

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BULETIN ŞTIINŢIFIC, Seria C, Fascicola: Mecanică, Tribologie, Tehnologia Construcţiilor de Maşini
SCIENTIFIC BULLETIN, Serie C, Fascicle: Mechanics, Tribology, Machine Manufacturing Technology, ISSN 1224-3264, Vol. 2020 No.XXXV

differential amplifier has a voltage output of 0 V in case

of ambient pressure. The sensor itself has 0.5 V output
voltage value in the same situation, as the sensor is able
to detect pressures lower than atmospheric pressure.
With this solution it became possible to measure the
examined range, which in this case is 0-15 kPa with
sufficient accuracy (resolution of 14,6 Pa).
The sensors and the signal conditioning circuit
were calibrated by measuring the equivalent water
column height, since the hydrostatic pressure of a 1 m
water column was 0.1 atm, i.e. 98066.5 Pa

3.2.3. The embedded system used to control and

measure

The embedded system used in the small-scale

Fig. 3 Heat camera image of a small sample model model is based on the Arduino platform.
(Tóth et al., 2019) Arduino is an open-source development platform
designed to program hardware with designs available to
anyone. The open ecosystem created in this way allows
It is striking that most of the heat loss is on the for community developments that have made embedded
surface of the pipes, so a necessary step in the computing more widely available and attractive. The
development of the model may be to reduce the losses platform consists of a so-called Integrated Development
occurring here with adequate thermal insulation. Environment (IDE) and a compatible Arduino board,
According to our calculations, 31 percent of the i.e. a microcontroller platform with additional
power invested in electricity is spent on heating the electronics. The programming environment itself is a
ambient air in the form of a loss, while the remaining 69 platform-independent C / C ++ programming language
percent is used to heat the liquid in the heat storage. written in Java. To enable the compiler to work
seamlessly with multiple microcontrollers and even
3.2.1. Temperature sensor microcomputers with different architectures, the IDE
includes hardware definition files and associated
The sensor type of choice was the DS18B20, an hardware-specific directory packages that allow you to
intelligent sensor available in an industrial stainless- manage the various memory addresses required by the
steel housing. The various parameters of the sensor various peripherals of the controllers and the register.
make it extremely suitable for use in the small-scale Thus, contrary to the general misconception, Arduino is
model. not a microcontroller, but a complex platform that
When configured for 12-bit data resolution, the allows us to program an embedded system of different
maximum accuracy is 0.0625 °C. architectures, designs, and performance in a unified
manner (Tóth J., 2021).
3.2.2. Pressure sensor The program for the cards in the small-scale
model has been compiled and uploaded with Arduino
In order to narrow the measuring range of the IDE version 1.8.3.
used My1220 pressure sensors, it was necessary to The following parameters were considered when
condition the output signal and calibrate the sensors. selecting the cards for the small-scale system:
The circuit shown in Figure 4 consists of a • number of analog-to-digital converters, their
voltage tracking circuit (buffer), a differential amplifier resolution,
• number and resolution of pulse width
modulation modules,
• maximum power that can be controlled per
port,
• available communication modules,
• processing speed,
• number and resolution of timers,
• interrupt handlers,
• oscillator stability.

The Arduino Mega 2560 card has been selected

Fig. 4. Signal conditioning circuit for the small-scale system to control the pumps and read
the sensors, as this card has a suitably versatile
and a low pass filter with a cutoff frequency of 1.592 microcontroller with adequate speed and peripheral
Hz. The gain of the differential amplifier is 20. The

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BULETIN ŞTIINŢIFIC, Seria C, Fascicola: Mecanică, Tribologie, Tehnologia Construcţiilor de Maşini
SCIENTIFIC BULLETIN, Serie C, Fascicle: Mechanics, Tribology, Machine Manufacturing Technology, ISSN 1224-3264, Vol. 2020 No.XXXV

support. The most important parameter of the card is the

microcontroller, which is an ATmega2560.

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BULETIN ŞTIINŢIFIC, Seria C, Fascicola: Mecanică, Tribologie, Tehnologia Construcţiilor de Maşini
SCIENTIFIC BULLETIN, Serie C, Fascicle: Mechanics, Tribology, Machine Manufacturing Technology, ISSN 1224-3264, Vol. 2020 No.XXXV

4. RESULTS, CONCLUSION [11] Tóth, J. (2021). Termikus napenergia-

hasznosító rendszerek modellalapú
We successfully designed and built a small-scale szabályozása, Doktori (PhD) értekezés, p. 34.
system which is capable to mimic a contact heating [12] Tóth, J., Erdélyi, V., Jánosi, L., Farkas, I.
system supplemented with solar thermal system. The (2019). Termikus napenergia-hasznosító
small-scale model is equipped with all the necessary rendszer kismintamodelljének identifikációja,
actuators and sensors which enables us to conduct Magyar Energetika, 26: 4, pp. 18-23.
experiments and collect data. This data will be used to [13] Tóth, L. (2021). EuroTier és EnergyDecentral –
identify the parameters in the block-oriented simulation Hannover Állatjóléti és környezetvédelmi
models on which we are currently working, and it is újdonságok. Mezőgazdasági Technika, 2021.
able to validate our simulation in various control február pp. 4-7.
scenarios. [14] Varga P. (2017). A napenergia aktív
hőhasznosítása − hazai és nemzetközi
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BULETIN ŞTIINŢIFIC, Seria C, Fascicola: Mecanică, Tribologie, Tehnologia Construcţiilor de Maşini
SCIENTIFIC BULLETIN, Serie C, Fascicle: Mechanics, Tribology, Machine Manufacturing Technology, ISSN 1224-3264, Vol. 2020 No.XXXV